Friends or foes? Understanding the effects of service robots on consumers’ patronage intentions in ethnic restaurants

Abstract

Given the rise of ethnic dining, managers need to enhance their competitive edge and attract consumers in innovative ways. Integrating service robots in ethnic restaurants offers novel experiences but raises concerns about maintaining perceived authenticity. To address this under-explored gap, this study leverages the heuristic-systematic model to examine the roles of service robot types and the influence of consumers’ attributions and technology expertise on their ethnic dining experiences, with perceived authenticity as a mediator. Through three studies involving 802 participants, findings reveal that social service robots (vs. functional service robots) significantly boost patronage intentions, particularly when restaurant motives are seen as firm-serving (vs. customer-serving) operations. Perceived authenticity mediates the relationship between robot type and patronage intentions, while technology expertise amplifies the preference for social service robots among knowledgeable customers. This research enhances the understanding of implementing service robots in ethnic restaurants, providing managerial insights into optimizing robot deployment and integration to improve customer experience.